


Lost and Found Part 2

by ForensicSpider98



Series: Love After the Fact [44]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Cultural Differences, All this stress is bad for the baby, Altean Adam (Voltron), Altean Prince Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Balmeran Hunk (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Galra Shiro (Voltron), Galran Prince Keith (Voltron), Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Moral Ambiguity, Moral Dilemmas, Multi, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Olkari Pidge | Katie Holt, Post-War, it's keith. keith is the baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:53:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24444631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForensicSpider98/pseuds/ForensicSpider98
Summary: Shiro enlists Keith's help finishing his mission.
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Alfor/Coran (Voltron), Allura/Lotor/Romelle (Voltron), Haggar/Zarkon (Voltron), Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Love After the Fact [44]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1635043
Comments: 29
Kudos: 181





	Lost and Found Part 2

Shiro wakes still propped against his tree, staring up into a dawn sky and needle-leafed branches. Looking down, he realizes that the kit is curled up right next to him, almost but not quite touching. They hold their plumed tail in their hands. Their long, sand-fighting lashes flutter against the velvet beneath their lids, just before their fur begins in earnest.

“Seems you made a friend,” Drama observes, staring at the kit from her place by a crackling fire.

“Shut up and gimme some elk,” Shiro grumbles.

“Aw, cute. A little young for you though, don’t you think? Though it seems that some of us are into that.” Haxus smirks. Ulaz pauses, glaring at Haxus. The lieutenant has a significantly younger, very pregnant mate back at the compound with their first-born kit. Shiro swallows his irritation. He dislikes Haxus and Sendak, who’s still asleep a short ways away. They didn’t start out as bad people. He's trained with them, worked with them from the very beginning. But people deal with war in different ways. Some become kinder, others jaded and cold.

But they’ve both given up a lot, and Shiro trusts them to follow his orders whether they like those orders or not. They’ve all saved each others’ lives more than once.

At Shiro’s side, the kit stirs, blinking large eyes at him. “Good morning. Are you hungry?”

Drama creeps over, careful not to startle the kit. She passes over some of the elk meat. With a growl, the kit shrinks, huddling behind Shiro’s tree. A fearful chirp escapes their mouth, catching the attention of the adults. 

“Easy now,” Shiro murmurs as his team instinctively leans toward the kit. “They’ve been alone for a long time. We don’t want to scare them.”

“Him.” It’s so quiet, Shiro’s only sure he heard it because Ulaz’ ear twitches. “Keith.”

It’s a small voice, hoarse with disuse.

“Keith,” Shiro murmurs. “Nice to meet you, Keith. I’m Captain Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro. Everyone does.”

“Shiro,” the kit -Keith- rasps out. He slips from behind Shiro, crouches a short distance away.

“Do you think you could help us with something?”

Keith shrinks back a bit, fingers sinking into the loose dirt. He’s clean, Shiro suddenly realizes. Disheveled, but not unkempt, hair tangled but not matted. There must be a place nearby where he bathes, because it hasn’t rained in movements. Another good sign. There’s hope for Keith yet. 

“We came here to find a man called Akira. He lived in that den.” Shiro points. “Do you know him?”

A nod.

“Can you take us to him? His littermate misses him. He sent us to find him and bring him home.”

Ears wilting, the kit hesitates, tail curling tighter at his feet. Finally, after a long hesitation, he nods again. “Far.”

Shiro returns the nod, turns to his team. “Haxus, wake Sendak. We’ll be taking a hike shortly. Leave the elk here.”

As they’re leaving, the kit slips into the den, emerges with a green primate. He gestures to his pet. “BleepBloop.”

Shiro grins at the primate’s adorable name, likely one given during Keith's early kittenhood. “Nice to meet you, BleepBloop.”

Smiling at BleepBloop, Keith turns, slings the primate on his back, climbs a nearby tree, leaps to the next like he was born for it.

The first thing Shiro notices on their walk is that Keith is enjoying himself. The kit seems to like being outside, smiling as he leaps from branch to branch above them, BleepBloop either clinging to his back, or moving alongside. The second thing Shiro notices is the kit's persistent curiosity. Every now and then he stops to investigate some odd noise or seemingly random plant or bug. 

He’s still wearing Shiro’s cloak, making him wonder if perhaps Keith has some concept of nudity or if he feels exposed compared to the others. Maybe he just likes the fabric. Maybe it’s because it was a gift.

Either way, he’s rather endearing, the entire squad seeming to grow fond. Even Sendak cracks a smile once or twice.

Any pleasantness vanishes when Keith stops, settling onto the ground once again, digging his bare toes into the dirt at the edge of a ravine. Shiro turns to the kit in question.

Keith’s ears droop, staring down into the canyon. He begins to slide down the side cliff face, and it’s immediately obvious that he knows the way down.

“Haxus, Entri, keep lookout up here.”

“Yes, sir.” Entri draws her bow, and Haxus loosens his sword, giving Shiro a nod. He'll look after his younger colleague.

The way down is narrow, but worn, as if Keith has been down this way many times. Shiro tries not to dwell on the idea of a little kit stumbling down the crumbling cliff face.

At the bottom, Keith crosses the creek, stops by an oblong mound of stones. Ulaz and Drama curse in unison. The others grimace or look away. Keith himself settles on the ground in an earthy depression, curls up against the stones, violet eyes large and sad. It's habitual. He must come here often.

Firn trips over something. “Fuck!”

Keith hisses; everyone turns to look. He’s tripped over a white cuirass. Shiro bares his teeth in a growl. Alteans killed Akira, left his kit to die, likely deliberately. A spiteful, unnecessarily cruel act. He doubts the well-known dissenter was the aggressor, that he instigated any confrontation. He doubts they even knew who they were killing. They probably just did it for fun.

It’s the first time Shiro’s ever really felt hatred for his neighbors, the ones who came bringing the promise of life beyond their own planet. But he pushes that aside, crouches down next to the kit. He wants to rub his ear, take him home, keep him safe. It has to be Keith's choice.

“Keith?” The only response Shiro gets is a twitch of the kit’s ear. “I want you to think about coming with us.”

Keith scrambles back, fur bristling. “No. Staying here. With Dad!”

“You don’t have to, but you wouldn’t have to be alone.” _That_ sparks an interest, the kit’s ears twitching with curiosity. "You could stay with me, or- or your uncle-”

“Uncle?” Cocking his head, Keith’s posture relaxes, crouching in the sand.

“Emperor Zarkon, your sire’s littermate. He would give you a place to stay.”

Keith stares at BleepBloop in his lap, pets his fur. The primate snuggles against him, fingers exploring the fabric of his cloak. “Doesn’t want me,” he finally mutters. “Didn’t want Dad.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Shiro argues. “But if it is, you can stay with me, or with somebody else… There’s no reason to keep being alone, Keith. You can come with us, be with people, learn so many new things; you'd be safe-”

“Sleep.” It’s desperate, the way Keith says it. Shiro understands. The kit’s probably spent years in a state of exhaustion.

“Yes. Sleep. Feel safe. Eat every day-”

“I hunt!” Keith snaps. Shiro grins, his soldiers snickering at the kit’s indignation. “Better hunter than you!”

“I don’t doubt that. But you wouldn’t have to, or at least not all by yourself.”

The kit stares at BleepBloop, his only friend in the world. “BleepBloop. I need him.”

“You guys have been together a long time, huh?” Shiro smiles. The kit nods.

“He goes with you. You can keep him.” Shiro reaches a hand to the primate, offers it a piece of meat. BleepBloop accepts, and Shiro pats his green, furry head. "And one day, you can return here, if you want, and this can be your home."

“Promise?”

“Of course. I won’t let anyone take him from you.” At an expectant gaze, Shiro says, “I promise.”

“Okay.” Keith gets up, sets another stone on top of the others, on top of his father’s remains. His small fingers rest there. “I’ll come back.”

Shiro doesn’t say anything. The words weren’t meant for him.

…

Keith sits on top of Shiro’s den, waiting for him to come home. BleepBloop snuggles against his side. He watches the sun set over the compound, the village sprawling down the slope of the mountain. He likes this time of day. The people are quiet, and he can just watch. Just breathe.

He's not quite used to being around people. But he can talk to them now, so that's something, at least.

Loose clothes blowing in the evening breeze, Keith draws Shiro's old cloak around him, pulls out his tablet, struggling his way through the next chapter: 

**Heart hammering in her chest, Rheydon knelt before the towering sentry. Behind them was a sprawling series of floating islands connected by delicate bridges, and an expanse of pink and violet sky.**

**“Why are you here?” the sentry booms.**

**“I am here,” the Altean gasped, “to know what is not yet known.”**

Keith rubs his head. This story is considerably harder than the children’s stories that he’s been reading since he was little. There are so many new words to struggle with. This one is Altean, translated into Galran, but he rather likes it. He relates to Rheydon’s need ‘to know what is not yet known.’

An odd creature, some kind of luminescing reptile lands beside him, and he snatches it up before BleepBloop can eat it. Keith stares at it, stroking his primate to settle his angry chittering at being denied a snack. 

The creature glows a warm yellow along stripes criss-crossing all down it's back, leathery little wings tucked to its belly. Humming curiously, he dangles the reptile by the tail, only for-

The lizard drops, flying away and leaving Keith with only a wriggling bit of flesh. He drops it with a squeal, grimacing with disgust as the tail writhes its way over the curve of the den roof. What. The. Fuck? Another lizard bobs in front of him, and he lets BleepBloop snatch and eat it.

There is so much left to know.

**Author's Note:**

> Next time on Love After the Fact: Lance and Keith begin a new chapter of their relationship.


End file.
